Blockchain Technologies and Applications

This course will trace the history of cryptocurrencies and explicate the relationship between cryptocurrencies and blockchain. It will focus on not only explaining the components of blockchain technologies but also surveying the competing platforms available as well as trade-offs among them. It will then examine potential applications of blockchain technologies and various societal, legal, and monetary implications of these technologies. Blockchain has the potential to be a successful technology platform to overcome trust barriers among different parties over the Internet. This is a significant value proposition – one that this course will seek to unpack – that has attracted significant flow of capital and talent into the blockchain space.